1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a demand for a compact image forming apparatus with a small footprint. In addition, since an image forming apparatus such as a printer, by its nature, may be located with little space on both sides thereof, it is desirable that consumables such as a process cartridge be replaced by a user from the front of the apparatus, which is referred to as front operation.
In one example image forming apparatus provided with a drive coupling to transmit a driving force from the image forming apparatus to the process cartridge, the front operation of replacing the process cartridge is enabled by retracting the drive coupling during replacement of the process cartridge. The drive coupling is connected to a driven coupling of the process cartridge when an upper cover of the image forming apparatus is closed.
However, this method requires a space to retract the drive coupling, which increases the apparatus size in the width direction of the image forming apparatus. Specifically, such an image forming apparatus is designed to prevent damage caused by interference between the drive coupling and the process cartridge. The drive coupling, which transmits the driving force to the process cartridge, needs to be retracted during installation of the process cartridge, which causes an increase in the apparatus size in the width direction.
This problem may be solved by transmitting the driving force through a gear linkage. However, in this case, a driven gear of the process cartridge directly meshes with a drive gear of the image forming apparatus when the process cartridge is installed in the image forming apparatus. Therefore, a user needs to push the process cartridge hard into the image forming apparatus, which tends to damage the gears.